Edward Waterman Hagler

Born in 1903 to John Carroll Hagler and Katherine Hays Waterman, Edward Hagler was a native Augustan.  He graduated from the Academy of Richmond County in 1923. While at ARC, he was president of both his freshman and senior classes. He rose to the rank of Major in the ROTC program, serving as one of two battalion commanders. He was also president of the A.H. Stephens Literary Society at the Academy. After graduating from the  University of Georgia, he went to work with the Georgia Carolina Brick Company. His father, John, was one of the founders of the company in 1902. His older brother John Jr. and later his younger brother Thomas also became part of the company. He would eventually become the Secretary-Treasurer of Georgia Carolina Brick and Tile Co. In 1947, he became the managing partner of Hagler Tire & Supply with his brothers John Jr. and Thomas. He married Elizabeth Burdell, sponsor of his ROTC unit at ARC, and the couple had two children. The oldest, Carter Burdell Hagler, was killed in action in Korea in 1952 and an American Legion Post bears his name. William Schweigert Hagler became a prominent and nationally known ophthalmologist with an endowed chair at the Medical College of Georgia that bears his name.

 

Throughout the years, Mr. Hagler was involved in charitable work, including campaigns for Community Chest and the American Red Cross. But his most important work helped thousands of young Augustans over the years and still operates today – Boys Club of America. In the early 1950s, partially inspired by his son Carter, who told his father of his admiration of young soldiers from the mill villages, Hagler initiated a Boys Club in Augusta in the Harrisburg neighborhood. The first charter was issued in 1951. Working with the leadership of the national organization and the local community, he secured a building, formed a board of directors and, for thirty-two years, served on the non-profit’s board, including as its first president. Over the years, he won many awards from local, state, and national organizations, including the Boys Clubs of America Bronze Keystone Awards in 1973, 1981, 1986. That year, he was chosen as Board Member of the Year for the State of Georgia. Mr. Hagler died in 2002, four months short of his ninety-ninth birthday.